adaptibility and order

In reading Jacques Ellul recently, I came across this gem of ecclesial wisdom…
“No doubt some will reply that God is not a God of disorder, incoherence, or arbitrariness, but a God of order. Of course he is. Unfortunately the whole of the Old Testament shows us that God’s order is not that [...]

the attractional v. missional debate

I think the use of the term attractional is a tad ambiguous, but because I am partly responsible for introducing it into the broader conversation I have to stick with it. What I am trying to get at in using the term attractional is what I call the missionary mode or primary posture of [...]

not my precioussss

We have been analyzing the passing of the Christendom period and the accompanying demise of the Christendom imagination of ecclesia that has basically entwined itself in a more institutional idea of what it means to be God’s people. We are soon coming to the point where we will begin to present a positive vision [...]

making ideas schtick

I lifted this holus-bolus from one of my favourite blogs called onmovements. So serious hat tip to the dudes there. But I thought it was well worth noting…

 
How do leaders avoid the Curse of Knowledge–that inability of experts to communicate their great ideas clearly? They can’t unlearn what they know. According to Chip [...]

the big issue of the century

Now we know for sure that things are heating up…

Seriously, I must admit to becoming increasingly gloomy and to feeling unnaturally apocaplyptic about this upcoming century. I have always felt that it was going to be one unbelievably difficult one. When we throw in runaway technology (future shock), massive geo-political shifts, people [...]

the new tribalism (part II)

Taking up where we left off in the last blog in this subject, we now stand in what has been called the postmodern period. And with the demise of the modern and the rise of the postmodern, the whole missionary deal has gone and shifted on us; we are now back on genuinely missional [...]

sub-cultural papua new guinea

To this point we have lovingly (for the most part) critiqued the Christendom mode of church and questioned its relevance for our current missional situation. The Constantianian compact established the religious hegemony know as Christendom–a form of church that has lasted in various forms to this very day. It ruled over Western culture for at [...]

the best way to preserve tradition

I believe that is was Picasso that said that the best way to preserve tradition is to have children, and not by wearing your father’s old hat.  Thought I’d lob this thought grenade into our ongoing discussions re inherited forms and ideas of church.

don’t emerge before you get missional

This phrase was introduced into our conversation at the Forge Tribal Moot over this last week. It comes from the mind of Tim Hein, our Forge South Australian director. His concern, and I might add ours, is that people who read about new forms and ideas about church and mission, get excited, and [...]

cultural distance

One of the most useful ways of reading our situation comes from a conceptual tool developed by the pioneering missiologist, Ralph Winter. The concept is that of cultural distance. This was developed to try and assess just how far a people group is from a meaningful engagement with the gospel.  In order to try and [...]

do you hubbub?

OK gang, that’s some great feedback.  I hope you don’t mind, but I want to try just one more on you.  The idea of the site remains the same of course.  It is a central space to get involved in great dialogue over great ideas.  The medium will be visually rich with sims and simspaces [...]

i heard it through the shapevine

OK, I need your advice and comment. I and some friends are looking at starting a online cafe environment where people can converse (using video feeds and audio links) around the great ideas of our time. We are going to provide a place where people can engage with great thinkers and practitioners in a [...]

Let the master speak…

At this point in our discussion, I thought it might be worth referring to the seriously insightful, even prescient, Asbury Prof, Howard Snyder. (Let this inform our disucssion below–lets keep going.) The following ten “Theses on Renewal” from Liberating the Church summarize Howard Snyder’s most basic convictions about the nature and calling of the [...]

going to the roots of the matter

No-one looking at the situation of the church today can say that over the last century or so things have not fundamentally changed.  The reality we deal with is that after around 2000 years of the Gospel, we are on the decline in just about every western cultural context.  In fact, we are further way [...]

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